November 25, 2008

Gabriel and Elle attempt to retrieve Claire. Gabriel’s foray into goodness has evidently come to an end, and I’m not really sure how/when this happened. He was just so determined a couple of episodes ago, and then all of a sudden…BLAH! I’M EVIL! (Therefore I will once again call him Sylar). Maybe all of my years out of college had triggered a process of “dumbening” which has rendered me incapable of interpreting the subtleties in tv shows.

I thought it was humorous that HRG’s company training program consists mainly of swinging a 2×4. But evidently he knows what he’s doing, because he absolutely WASTES the powerless Sylar. I would not want to rumble with HRG, despite my thorough wrestling abilities.

Oh yeah, Claire gets shot. But c’mon, she’s clearly not going to die.

Nathan and Peter search for the Haitian, who is searching for his troubled brother. This reminds me of SCRUBS or GREY’S ANATOMY when the patient suffers from some malady that is a metaphor for the doctor’s personal life. Needless to say, they find him and his brother, albeit not in the most ideal way.

As much as I dislike Parkman, the Daphne/Matt/Hiro/Ando storyline was hilarious tonight. (Well, with the exception of Daphne’s ironic affliction.) The best dialogue of the evening:

Ando: You have to fix Hiro! Look! (Shows Matt the comic)
Matt: What does it say!?
Ando: It says, “You have to fix Hiro!”

It also turns out that 10-year-old Hiro is not that different from regular Hiro. One more good line from this story:

Daphne’s father: Why are you turning your head like that? What’s wrong with you, son?
On a side note, when I started watching last night after my drumming class, the episode was a little over half way through, so the eclipse had already begun. Alas, I was not aware of this and spent some time wondering why the lighting was so shitty in this episode.

I had high expectations for this episode, but it left much to be desired. Perhaps Homer Simpson had it right when he advised Bart, “Never set goals and you’ll never be disappointed.” (I butchered that quote, but that’s the gist of it). All in all, I think the eclipse should have occurred earlier in the episode. There should also have been a ninja guest appearance. Perhaps two ninja guest appearances.

November 17, 2008

The episode somewhat begins with Ando’s sweet flying punch. It definitely reminded me of Wolverine going berserk. Unfortunately, Arthur freezes him and tosses him aside like he was Matt Parkman. (This got me really excited for Hiro’s vision of Ando with powers.) For some reason, Arthur merely reverts Hiro mentally to the age of ten, but does not actually take his powers. WTF, Arthur Petrelli? You call yourself an evil doer? Minor hilarity ensues.

At Pinehurst, Elle disrobes Gabriel with her electricity. This got me thinking: How long has it been since we’ve seen Peter Petrelli shirtless? Along those lines (strangely), Gabriel’s speech about resisting the “urge” felt like it would have been really effective in the Seinfield episode where they compete to see who is “master of his domain.” Clearly, Gabriel is the master of his domain as he eventually learns to attain powers without cutting off someone’s head. Empathy is the new brain-eating. I can’t say this makes me giddy.

Peter and Claire escape, but this storyline bored me to tears. And as my wifey mentioned, the sexual tension between Haylo is so disgustingly palpable I can barely watch these two in a scene. I feel like it wouldn’t have been entirely unexpected if they turned the corner of the sewer to find this guy:

Suresh conducts research on human beings, and we discover Claire is the catalyst. She is just so damn special, isn’t she? Question: why isn’t Suresh transforming as quickly as his test subjects? Additional question: why the hell is he still on this show? I wish he had a real power so that Sylar could cut his head open and take it. Wait, he doesn’t do that anymore. Crap.

Daphne saves Matt who saves Angela who saves Arthur who makes the valid point that these womens be screwing us over ALL the time. I can’t say I totally disagree. I’ve definitely been handed over to a super villain on numerous occasions thanks to the betrayal of a member of the female species.

The end of the episode got me excited for the eclipse. I just hope they make those boxes with the pin holes so that they don’t hurt their eyes looking at the sun.

November 11, 2008

As promised, here is the review of the first half of last night’s episode.

Arthur and Linderman plot Nathan’s demise. I think this back story was supposed to shock the audience so they’re all like, “Oh man, Arthur Petrelli was behind it the whole time!” and such. However, I think most viewers probably already understand that. The back story did, however, succeed in painting Angela Petrelli in a less monstrous light.

Gabriel attempts suicide but it saved by Elle. More than anything else, I liked the inclusion of this as it shows that Gabriel is ultimately good at heart. I think the writers of HEROES will forever toy with Gabriel as good-or-evil just as a normal TV series has a romantic will-they-won’t-they subplot. Akin to Snape in Harry Potter, I think we’ll see Gabriel bounce back in forth but commit some redeeming act in the end. As we saw with Hiro in the second season, HEROES does not do love stories well, so I’m pleased they’re going with this angle.

Meredith is captured by the dude with the earring, who has a bit of the child molester air about him. Nothing amazing in this story besides the revelation that Flint is her brother.
Afterthought:
Does the black guy really always have to die?

November 10, 2008

I missed the first half hour, due to my West African Drumming Class which started tonight. It’s going to take place on the next 8 Mondays, so if you want the entire review, check out the blog on Tuesday night. If you don’t mind hearing about the second half and then the first half the next day, then that’s cool too.

When I began watching, Arthur Petrelli was forcing Angela to agree that Nathan needs to be killed. Turns out Angela poisoned Arthur, and he used his little sith mind tricks to have the doctor tell everyone he was dead. I reiterate the fact that Arthur was much creepier as an invalid. None the less, what an evil dude.

Meredith is tested as an agent, but fails when she helps her brother, Flint, escape from the company. That dude with an earring is pissed, but let’s her go later on. I liked the tie in with the train crash being the one during which Claire found her calling.

Elle and HRG run some surveillance on Gabriel. He kills some Goth fellow and takes his power (invisible bullets?). Again, nice connection with HRG getting in Mohinder’s cab following Peter’s exit. Made me nostalgic for season one.

Umm…yeah. Sorry this post lacks in its usual hilarity. At least in the half of the episode I viewed, nothing earth-shattering occurred. To be honest, I was kind of bored. The only interesting thing came at the end with the decapitated body of Usutu. There’s a fairly well known quote about fiction writing that says, “When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun.” I feel like the writers bailed this episode out of monotony with a similar mantra: “When in doubt, have someone find a decapitated body.” I definitely did not expect that. But without a doubt, that wily Hiro will escape Arthur Petrelli. If he doesn’t, then I’m just going to be like, “FUCK THIS,” because I don’t care if Peter loses his powers, but nobody messes with my jolly Asian brethren.